Outsiders- what can we learn from their stories?

Every once in a while, an outsider comes along with a new vision or a new way of doing things that revolutionizes a scientific field, an industry, or a culture. Take Katalin Karikó, pioneer of the mRNA technology that ultimately gave the world Covid-19 vaccines. Raised in a small adobe house in the former Eastern bloc with no running water or fridge, Karikó started working with RNA as a student in Hungary but moved to the United States in her late twenties. For decades, she faced rejection after rejection, the scorn of colleagues, and even the threat of deportation. Yet today, her work on mRNA is at the heart of the vaccines developed by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna.

This story of resilience is one we might well expect to hear in a motivational school assembly. Most schools would say that resilience is a quality they strive to nurture in young people but with more than 20% of the school population now persistently absent, many believe there is room for some fresh thinking on the subject.

Do we leave to chance the hope that someone will emerge who will be capable of the next great discovery which, like mRNA, will save our lives and fortunes? Nurturing that kind of talent surely starts with a society that doesn’t view any child as an outsider. A society that hears and values each individual, investing in them as the fundamental building blocks of its survival.

Starting with some first aid- let’s insist that any political party with ambitions to form the next government commits to:

• providing every child or young person who needs it, access to mental health support;

• providing adequate resourcing to fund SEND.

Then, let’s take a long hard look at the values and purposes of education and, with our communities and across our nation agree on how education and social care should be planned and resourced ensuring that no child or young person is viewed as an outsider.